Campaign Legal Center Urges Oversight and Government Reform Committee to Respect D.C. Residents’ Right to Local Control and to Full Democracy

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — Tomorrow, the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will hold a hearing to markup 14 proposed bills that would further silence the voices of more than 700,000 Washington, D.C., residents. D.C. residents have no voting representation in the House or the Senate of the U.S. Congress. This package would further erode D.C.’s control of their local affairs by granting Congress more authority to overturn bills passed by the democratically elected D.C. City Council and signed by the mayor. The bills would also eliminate the democratically elected position of D.C. attorney general — a position adopted by the people of D.C. by referendum — and codify portions of an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in August to increase the presence of federal law enforcement within the District that residents overwhelmingly oppose. 

Bruce V. Spiva, senior vice president at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center, issued the following statement on tomorrow’s markup on D.C.-related bills:

“Congress is once again attacking the local control and democratic rights of the more than 700,000 residents of Washington, D.C. The markup in the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee of a troubling package of 14 bills will further silence the voices of D.C. residents.

“D.C. residents pay more per capita in federal taxes than any other jurisdiction and have fought in every war since the founding of the Republic. Yet, they are denied the same rights as every other American. The lack of statehood for residents of Washington, D.C., is fundamentally a democracy issue. D.C. residents are currently only able to express their will through a democratically elected local government. They possess no voting representation in Congress to protect their interests. Congress should not interfere with D.C. residents’ control of their own local affairs as expressed through their elected local government.

“The package of bills being reviewed by the Oversight Committee will do just the opposite. These bills will further erode D.C. residents’ right to self-governance and further oppress the residents of the nation's capital, who deserve the same rights as all Americans. Our country was founded on the principle that government without the consent of the governed is illegitimate.

“Lawmakers who support democracy must respect the will of D.C. residents and reject this attempt to overturn laws enacted by their elected councilmembers and mayor. Campaign Legal Center strongly supports D.C. statehood and urges the Oversight Committee to move forward on D.C. statehood and not backward by supporting this package of bills that at its core is undemocratic.”

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The nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center advances democracy through law. We safeguard the freedom to vote, defend voters’ right to know who is spending money to influence elections, and work to ensure public trust in our elected officials.

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